Its all about the Money…or Why my family members are Democrats
I moved out of the Appalachian Coal fields of Western Pennsylvania nearly 27 years ago, but I will always have an appreciation for the hard life that the miners, steel workers and railroad men endure. My extended family earned its living from one of these interdependent industries and they were Democrats and Unionist all because they knew what the Republican party stood for, and it was against their interests.
I had many family members and friends who lost their lives either in industrial accidents or to the silocosis from years of breathing coal dust. I knew many others who spent the rest of their lives half crippled after surviving industrial accidents. I knew few miners or steel workers who didn’t feel that it was all about making money where the corporate executives were concerened and that the only entities that had power to enforce industrial saftey were the labor unions and their power through the Democratic party. I will also always look with suspician on a Corporate culture that in my youth cared little about worker safety and kept control of the work force by owning the houses that the workers lived in, and the stores that they purchased from.
Make no mistake that the conditions that men and women labor under now have been profoundly changed by labor unions. Before the Unions terrible accidents were the norm in the country’s mines and factories and even after the advent of the unions, it has been a struggle to force major corporations to place worker safety ahead of profits. I couldn’t help but notice that Sago was a non-union mine and that the owners have been cited numersous times for safety violations. There were previous accidents at the mine that were termed avoidable due to management not following safety regulations.
Yet, the corporation calls this accident an “act of God”.
I always knew those corporate types thought they were God.